Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is even more scary!! As we approach Hallowe'en my mind has gone back to that first winter at Hoar Cross Hall and all the scary things that happened - and that was without any trick or treaters in those days! We quickly realised that we weren’t the only inhabitants of the house. Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night ...

When we moved to Hoar Cross Hall in the 1970s, my father owned the largest private collection of arms and armour in the UK at that time! He owned about 20 suits of armour and numerous items of ‘arms’, which is another word for weapons. The word ‘arms’ comes from the Latin ‘arma’ which means ‘tools of war’; this word passed into the English language from the French in 1200. Mediaeval weapons consisted of halberds, double-edged swords, daggers, battle axes, crossbows and longbo...

This neighbour was a little further afield to Hoar Cross Hall than the other houses, as it was in Stoke-on-Trent. However, we often visited the gardens and I went to a few concerts there which were held in the Ballroom of the house. It was very similar to Alton Towers in that it had formal gardens with a large house and in later years was made into pleasure grounds, although not as grand as the rides at Alton towers! Originally the Trentham site was a priory but had been demolished during the ...

When you say the name ‘Alton Towers’ most people in the UK will think of the theme park with spectacular rollercoaster rides. It really has changed beyond all recognition to the days when I used to go there back in the 1970s. In those days it was a lovely house set in beautiful grounds with a few fairground rides to one side of the car park! Well, it still is a lovely place to visit but the rides have taken over now so that people only think of it as a theme park with fantastically themed...

Although this house isn’t quite so neighbourly to Hoar Cross Hall as the others in this series, it is loosely linked to the hall as it was the inspiration for the Mediaeval Banquets that my parents ran in the 1970s. They went along one night, to one of their banquets, to see what the format was and saw immediately how popular they were and so decided to start their own brand of banquets. The Coombe Abbey banquets were very traditional and had minstrels playing lutes etc while people ate thei...